Author's Note: I do not own any part of Bayonetta.

The Witch Hunts

The trio ran, each in their respective beast within forms; a wolf, a panther and a tiger, all sprinting back to the confines of the Crescent Valley. The streets and wilderness of Vigrid was but a blur to the three of them, each only focussing on the end goal.

"We must hurry!" Rosa began to push herself harder, her form going to its very limits. Balder threw off the constraints of his wolf-form and began to propel himself with the power of light and time. Bayonetta kept pace with her mother, keeping in stride with her.

They burst into a clearing, watching abject horror as thousands of Angels poured from the skies, the thin line of witches firing with almost futile effort.

"It's going to be a slaughter…" The elder witch whispered as the they came to a stop. Bayonetta grimly stared at the sky as a Resplendence passed over them.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Balder replied, then stepped forward, placing his glaive into the ground and started the bellow in Enochian. "ANGELS! LAGUNA OF PARADISO!"

The flight stopped in confusion, staring at the Sage who summoned them with suspicion. The assembled witches looked over to the trio, whispers of surprise, shock and confusion spreading throughout them.

"Stand down, and cease this!" Balder implored to the heavens, and the Affinities looked to each other, chittering. "You will gain nothing from this slaughter!"

"Ahh…" Bayonetta froze at the familiar voice. "The imposter has been sighted."

"Fortitudo!" Balder roared. "What is this madness? I am the last of the Lumen Sages! You must obey me!"

"The Lumen Father warned us of an imposter bearing the Lumen name." The twin-headed angel dragon floated up into view, hovering beside the cliff. "The Light must not be allowed to be banished, or subjugated by the darkness."

"Subjugated?" Balder gestured around incredulously. "How?"

"Stop." Bayonetta stepped forward, her eye glowing red. "Something isn't right."

"I have been awakened to many truths, witch." Fortitudo turned to her, smirking slightly. "You must realize, Overseer, is that the trinity of realms belongs to Jubileus, the Creator."

"The trinities belong to no one." Rosa stepped forward, pulling Bayonetta back. The younger witch looked at her in surprise and started to object, but the elder witch raised a hand. "Don't, Bayonetta. This is not your fight."

"But-" She protested, but she was cut off.

"The trainees need someone to keep them safe!" Rosa hissed. "Bayonetta! You must protect them!"

Her eyes softened at the realisation. "I will."

"You dare turn your blade against me?" Fortitudo retook their attention as Balder had resummoned his glaive to his hand. "Against an Auditio?"

"You have forgotten your place." The Sage snarled as Rosa took to his left. "We will stop you!"

Fortitudo roared as he launched its heads forward, trying to bite the couple. They both dodged in opposite directions, letting the Auditio slam into the ground. Bayonetta had turned and sprinted towards the line of witches, Scarborough Fair blazing. The Affinities screeched, returning to their assault.

"Stay together!" Bayonetta called out, trying to rally the defence. "We cannot let them break through!"

The witches behind her began to shout encouragement to one another, as they sent hails of bullets into the sky, taking down the angels by the hundreds.

But it wasn't enough. For each angel that fell from the sky, another one took its place with ten more behind it.

Turning her attention to her parents, she found them both fighting back to back, blocking and throwing back punches and glaive swipes at the angel. Rosa was playing defensive, dodging and repelling attacks from the Auditio. Balder was clearly the aggressor, not caring for himself as he abandoned any form of defence, opting only for attacks that left his wide open. They worked as a team, their styles complimenting and directly supporting each other.

"DROWN!" A giant fist crashed down onto the head of Fortitudo, causing it to roar in pain. Bayonetta's eyes widened at the weave; she recognised that hand. Another appeared and slammed into the main head, stunning it in place. Balder clicked his fingers and slammed his glaive down with a group of fireballs, throwing the right head into the left.

"Now, Rosa!" Golden light surrounded Balder as he slammed his glaive into the neck of the left head, pinning it down. Raising his hand to the sky, he summoned golden chains out of the ground and pulled them onto the stunned Angel, trapping it in place.

"Are you kidding? Killing it will allow it to reform!" Rosa jumped back to the Sage. "You know that!"

"Then we will seal it." Balder's eyes began to glow gold. "You must keep it still."

"With pleasure." Rosa smiled, then began move sensually, her arms waving specific patterns that Bayonetta recognised. "PDEE BARMA!"

Madama Khepri rose up behind the Angel, her arms encircling and holding the colossal angel down. Several angels screamed and diverted from the lines and dove down towards the pair. Sprinting back over, Bayonetta threw weaves by the dozen as she stood between the Laguna and the pair.

"I seal you, Fortitudo!" A giant Lumen symbol appeared beneath the grounded Auditio. "You will never leave, unless this seal is broken by the union of light and dark! You are banished from the three realities, never to return in this lifetime!" Balder glowed brightly, and then the angel began to sink.

"No! You cannot! The heavens need the-" Fortitudo was silenced as he sunk into the ground fully, out of sight and the battle. The witches cheered, and the angels screamed in terror.

"The heavens do not need the Auditio." Balder snarled as he returned to his normal brightness. "That is something I have learned."

Madama Khepri patted the area where the Auditio had sunk, then looked to the trio. Tilting her head, she smiled and gave them all a wink. The she faded as Rosa's hair returned to her body.

"This victory may be the first, but it is certainly not the last." Rosa called out to the assembled witches. "We will be overrun soon. Gather at the clocktower!" She pointed up to the large building in the distance, the symbol of the Umbra. "We must defend it with all of our strength!"

They nodded and began to move out. Balder smirked at his wife, and Bayonetta looked at her in awe.

"What?" She asked innocently, then shook her head. "This is what I was trained to do. Now let's go!"

…

They entered the city itself, noting the ruins that greeted them.

"We can't stop." Rosa ignored the death and destruction ahead of them. She glanced back to the assembled Umbra and pointed to the left. "You there! Take the trainees through the tunnels and out of here! If we can't hold them, at least they could revive the Umbra at a later time."

"Understood." The witch nodded, then began to run to the right with the trainees following behind. Bayonetta stepped towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Rosa?" She asked, and the elder witch pushed her off, the pain evident in her eyes.

"We can't dwell." Rosa shook her head. "We need to keep moving."

The trio continued through the town until an explosion of rubble heralded their next obstacle.

"Umbra Witch!" Sapientia slammed into the ground, blocking the path through Vigrid. "False Sage! Stand down, or die"

"Oh, it's you." Bayonetta snarled, jumping up and letting her wings snap out, guns held at the ready. "Stupid Auditio."

Her glare quickly fell off as her mother jumped onto a nearby roof, her voice calling out cleanly. "AR AR TIO!"

A set of six arms reached out from behind the angel, grabbing onto it and pulling it out of the way, the Auditio roaring rebelliously against its grip.

"Bayonetta! To me!" Balder gestured to her as he ran through the now open space. Letting the wings fade away, she dropped down and ran to her father's side.

"That's two of the damn things." She cursed as they passed underneath the Auditio. "Where are the others?"

"Knowing them, Iustitia and Temperentia are waiting in Paradiso." He answered as Hekatoncheir retreated back into Inferno, and Rosa ran in from the side. "Either to steal the glory at the end, or as a way of finishing us all."

"Angels being cowardly?" Rosa laughed as she caught up. "What? The sky is blue?"

"I wouldn't be too cheerful." Balder looked ahead as a giant portal to Paradiso opened. Three tentacled flower hands reached out, and then Iustitia floated down. Both Bayonetta and Rosa gagged at the sight of the monstrous Auditio, and Balder curled his lip in disgust.

"Never liked this Auditio anyway." He muttered and prepared to fight it, his glaive held by his side. Rosa and Bayonetta both prepared themselves for a fight, both wondering how they were supposed to fight an enemy that was starting to tear up the town itself, each tentacle grabbing onto a building and throwing it towards them.

Several blasts of energy destroyed the flying masonry well before it hit them. Stunned, all three turned to see a fleet of what Bayonetta could describe only as mechanical suits flying in towards the Auditio, guns blazing.

"What in the blazes are those?" Balder looked up at the mechs with confusion.

"Umbra Battle Armour." Rosa smiled with hope at the sky as the Auditio gurgled as the dozens of mechs engaged it. "An old experiment of our engineers, revisited after the clan wars. They can each engage most first sphere seraphim without troubles; a team of them should be able to take down an Auditio, and seal it away forever."

"I do not want to stay and find out." Balder gestured onwards. "Let's keep moving! We are halfway to the clocktower!"

"We cannot stop now!" Rosa nodded and began to sprint, Bayonetta and Balder at her heels.

…

"There's too many of them!" Rosa screamed as they battled their way through the hordes of Affinities, Applauds and Beloveds. "We will never reach it!"

"ZIRACAH!" Two draconic heads slammed into the ground, knocking several angels flying and freeing a path for Balder to advance further. "We must keep moving!"

Bayonetta transformed into a panther and dashed through, finally reaching the clearing before the clocktower. Behind her, hundreds of Umbra were fighting for their lives, and in the background she could see Sapentia beginning to advance upon the citadel proper.

The end is near… She thought to herself, her heart beginning to quicken. But when does mummy die?

"Umbra Witches!" An all too familiar voice roared. "Give up and submit to the Laguna!"

"Temperantia!" Balder roared as he broke into the clearing, his glaive twirling back into his hand like a boomerang. "Stop this madness!"

"The glory of Jubileus will not be stopped!" The colossal Auditio rose into view, staring down with utter contempt at the pair. "You will die like the rest of them."

Rosa broke through as well, running towards the pair. "Balder! Bayonetta! We need to help them!"

"No." Bayonetta stared at the Auditio with hatred. "I will stop him."

"Yourself!?" Balder looked at her in shock. "Bayonetta, you are injured!"

"He and I have a score to settle." She began to approach the edge of the cliff. Balder and Rosa stared at her, then turned to start fighting with the Umbra behind them.

"You…" Temperentia frowned. "Where have I earned your ire, mortal?"

"You will learn it!" Bayonetta began to lay a hail fire of bullets at it's face. Temperentia roared in anger, and drew its fist back in a punch. It threw the punch at her, and she jumped over and up and onto its arm. Transforming into a panther again, she activated witch walk and ran up its arm, aiming for the joint.

Arriving at it, she transformed out of the panther with a slash, attacking the energy that held the arm onto the torso. Temperentia roared in pain, summoning small wind elementals to try and knock her off. Simply sidestepping them, she sent a weave into the main ring, knocking it out of alignment.

"AFAA TADAAG NEPTA!" Her hair flew from her body, revealing the three bandages on her body to the world to see.

Hekatonchier appeared behind the Auditio, and one arm grabbed its head. Growling, it shook the demon off, then screamed in pain as another fist slammed into its stomach. Two arms grabbed the torso, another two grabbed the arm, and then the arm was flying off the cliff behind them, Bayonetta jumping gracefully back to the ground. She stared at the angel with a fierce look, whilst her parents looked on in surprise and approval.

"Foolish witch!" Temperantia roared in pain, then drew its other fist back. "Now your resolve shall crumble!"

It smashed into the clocktower, destroying it in one hit. The Umbra screamed at the sight of their symbol crumbling, and Rosa collapsed to her knees. Temperentia laughed at their despair, then his figure rippled as he floated back into Paradiso, out of sight and out of mind.

"No…" She whispered. "No!"

Bayonetta heard the screams of the Umbra as they were cut down as they stood there in shock. Balder noticed and grabbed his wife and pulled her up.

"Rosa! We must go!" He nodded to Bayonetta, who grabbed onto them both. Running from the angels who were now advancing on the three surviving humans she tossed them over the edge. Falling as a trio, focussing on dodging the pieces of debris filling the sky in front of them. Aiming for the Umbran Training Grounds beneath them, they tried to forget what had happened.

…

The three landed on a familiar stretch of ground, each for differing reasons.

For one of them, it was littered with corpses. For another, it was as she remembered it, but from a different angle. For the last, it was the familiarity of each body that shook her being to its core.

"So much death…" Rosa swallowed. "This…"

"I know." Balder placed a hand on her shoulder. "This sickens me more than the slaughter that underwent in the Sunrise Valley; at least you had a reason to make sure we were all dead. This… This is just senseless genocide."

Bayonetta walked forward, seeing a familiar sight ahead of her. This is where it ends. This is where she dies.

She frowned as Rosa bent over and checked a dead trainee. But how? I always assumed she had fallen in battle; the fighting has finished. What is left to kill her?

"R-rosa?" One of the trainees weakly reached out, and the Elder witch grabbed onto her.

"It's going to be alright; may Sheba guide you." She placed her fingers on her lips, and placed them onto the dying witch's head. "You deserved better, far better than what happened. I am sorry…"

The trainee went limp, and Rosa bowed her head in sorrow. Balder turned from the scene to see the younger witch looking at an empty spot among the witches with intensity.

"Bayonetta?" He called out, and she turned to him in surprise. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, it's just…" She spared a glance at the spot once more. "It's nothing."

"We need to move." Rosa had stood back up. "The Sage's forces will convene on us, and then we will die."

"It is far too late for that, my dear."

The trio turned to see a small boy and a masked Lumen Sage walking towards them. Both Bayonetta and Balder recognised the child and gasped in astonishment.

"L-Loki?" Bayonetta drew out her guns but didn't train them on anyone.

"You?!" Balder also drew out his glaive. "How-"

"Oh, please." 'Loki' stopped and put a hand on his head. "Can… we just not? For once. Can we just not."

Bayonetta frowned as her Eye whispered to her. "Who are you?"

"Perceptive." The boy put his hands in his pockets and stared at her coolly. "They don't call you the Left Eye for nothing."

"You are the Prophet." Balder finally recognised him. "The one I have been working with, all this time."

"Bingo." He pointed a finger cockily at the Sage, then turned to his companion briefly. "I do see that you are correct, mate, somewhat. However, my name is not the Prophet, Prophetic One or whatever they have been calling me now in your time."

"Loptr." The voice from the masked lumen was distorted, and neither witch or the sage could recognise it. "That's enough."

"Oh, sorry." Loptr turned and waved at the trio. "Well, I have to run. It was nice meeting you all, but I have an invasion to run. Toodeloo!"

He turned and ran, both Bayonetta and Balder making to give chase, only to be thwarted by the Sage stepping between them, holding a hand out.

"You!" Rosa stepped forward, pointing an Unforgiven at him. "Are you responsible for this?"

"Perhaps." His voice was laced with amusement, and it infuriated the Witch.

"Why." She continued forward. "Why did you do this?!"

"It was destiny." He replied, boredom creeping into his tone. "I had to do it."

"You had to?" Balder strode forward. "My Lumen Brother, no one forced you to slaughter thousands!"

The Sage began to laugh. Deep, almost infectious laughter. Rosa growled and shot a hail of bullets, but a small puff of blue smoke teleported him behind the trio, where he continued to laugh harder and harder.

"My, my…" He gestured to the Sage. "If only you knew the truth, Father Balder."

"I am no Father." Balder glared back at the masked man. "I have not earned that title, and I never will!"

"Are you sure about that? As the last living Sage, you are the de facto leader of the Lumen." The Sage shook his head. "Stupid Balder…"

"The last living Sage?" Bayonetta tilted her head, her suspicions beginning to grow. "Unless I am seeing double, there are two Sage's here, and they both do not look alike."

"Ha!" The Sage looked to her. "Wouldn't you like to know, Bayonetta?"

"Who are you?" Rosa demanded, standing next to her daughter, her eyes ablaze.

"Maybe this will jog the memory a bit," He ignored the Elder witch and stared at the Overseer of Darkness. "My dear, sweet child."

"No…" Bayonetta stepped back, her face pale.

"Enough games!" Balder ran forward, his glaive twirling into a downwards strike. Sighing, the Masked Lumen simply teleported behind him and walked away, letting Balder trip over his own swing.

"I guess a reveal is in order." The Masked Lumen gestured out as Balder turned around, seething. Reaching up, he pulled off his mask and threw his hood off. Rosa screamed and fell down, Balder cursed stared in utter confusion and Bayonetta stood there in shock.

"Well." Balder smiled. "I guess I do have your attention now."

"But-" Rosa kept glancing at the Balder on the floor and the Balder standing up, almost hyperventilating. "How?!"

"You aren't Balder." Bayonetta stepped forward, her Left Eye visibly red. "You are just using his body."

"They really don't call you the Left Eye for nothing." He looked impressed, then his face went serious. "You see, in the future… Fuck it, I'm going to spoil this whole story and say that you beat me. Lord Aesir, at the height of his powers, defeated by a powerless Loki and two pathetic mortals pretending to be Overseers; what a pathetic end to a God like me. I tried to escape to the past, and you nobly took my spirit in to prevent me from achieving my goals. But my will proved stronger, and now look at me; the mind of Loptr, the power of a Sage, and one of the Eyes of the World within my grasp again."

"I will defeat you in the future." Bayonetta's eyes blazed. "That's already certain!"

"Is it?" Loptr-Balder's eyes twinkled. "Is the future truly set in stone?"

"What have you done?" Balder stood up, his glaive pointing at the possessed man. "Explain yourself!"

"At the beginning of time, Aesir split himself into two, in order to give humanity a choice. Because we pitied them." He spat out. "Within a thousand years, you were all dead due to infighting and selfishness. Me and my 'better' half realised the future could not become this bleak, so we agreed to go back in time and change the past in order to affect the future."

"We tried for thousands of generations, to no avail." Loptr-Balder shook his head, kicking a corpse in anger. "Then I realised the problem; it was Loki. He was the one who guided humanity to their own self-destruction by sitting there and leaving them to their own devices, because 'humans should be allowed their precious free will'. He was content with just letting the die change, not the stakes. So one day, I murdered him before we were about to return to the past, stole his power, took his Eye from the ashes of civilization and began to shape humanity into what it should become; my willing pawns."

"But something wasn't right." He turned and began to pace, erratically waving his arms. "Something was missing. A utopia, you see, is boring. Nothing fun ever happens in one. So I remade Loki using the Left Eye of Darkness, and sent him to the future. Then I returned to the past, and began to whisper to the mortals about never letting light and dark intersect, a complete fabrication, and then gifted the Eyes to them."

"Oh, it was glorious. All it took was a slutty witch and an idiotic man to make love one night, and conceive a child." Rosa squirmed at the name, and Balder's incensed stared grew. "Then they slaughtered each other! What a joyous occasion, I reflected. Then I realised the idiotic Sage was still alive, and two witches had managed to escape unscathed, both of my eyes within their grasp, and both did not want to give up their power, especially me. So I bided my time until the year turned to the one that Loki had been sent to. Then I summoned you, Balder, displacing you through time so I could get your Eye and Bayonetta's as well, so I could repeat my little experiment with the Umbra and Lumen. I wanted to know how I could make my perfect beings tick. I wanted to see them explode."

"You did this all for a-" A gag appeared around Bayonetta's mouth, and Loptr-Balder stared at her in disgust.

"Quiet, the adults are talking." He turned away from her as she struggled with the cloth. "But then you defeated me with the help of Loki, your little victory came to pass and I was transported back here, to the start of the Clan Wars inside a new and fresh vessel. I began to plan my revenge, helping the Umbra discretely until they had annihilated them, and then waited for Fortitudo to take the bait of 'gallant' revenge to spark up a witch hunt, with me posing as my host to lead the charge. And that's when it all began to fall apart. I was in this loop, my incarnations making the same mistakes over and over again, of failing to reclaim the Eyes, failing to escape to the past to retry and failing to summon Jubileus to reset the universe so I could get my Eyes back by force. But then I had an epiphany."

"I ran into myself, and we discussed what had failed, and what had succeeded. So we began to change. Each iteration, I met up with my younger self, telling him everything I knew about the cycle I had undergone. Then that incarnation of me would try to awaken Jubileus, and be stopped by you. The next would make a small change, enough to try and change the tide of that final battle so I would be victorious. And it has never happened yet." He stopped and held his hands out to the sky as the moon began to rise. "All it takes is patience. I will succeed eventually, whether it be through the Jubileus plot, or my original plan of regaining the Eyes. What is made, will be mine once again!"

The three stared at the possessed Sage with determination and shock.

"I don't believe you mean those things." Rosa shook her head. "I think you are lying to yourself."

"My resolve has never been more certain, Umbra Witch." Loptr turned and regarded the elder witch. "You cannot change it."

"This isn't you." She stepped forward. "Balder, this isn't the man I love."

"M-Rosa!" Bayonetta had finally pulled the gag off. "No!"

"I know there is still good in you." She was ten metres from the mad Sage, and about seven from where she died. "I can feel it. I can sense it."

"Balder is dead." Loptr grinned cruelly. "He has submitted to his proper place."

Rosa walked up to him, her hands held out in a peaceful gesture. "You have to fight it, Balder! Fight the corruption within you!"

"Your words are meaningless, witch." Loptr-Balder smiled. "He is in a place where you can no longer reach him."

"There is always good in someone." She was three metres from him now. "All you have to do is look and see."

"What good is good when it isn't enough to fix anything?!" He snarled. "All playing the hero has ever got me was a dose of reality; humanity cannot be trusted with its own progression!"

"Rosa! Get back!" Balder cried out, but his wife turned and smiled at him.

"It's ok, Balder." She turned back and reached out to Loptr-Balder, taking one of his hands. "He won't hurt me."

Bayonetta saw something flicker in the possessed man's eyes, and hope began to flicker in her heart.

It was almost as if it was recognition.

"You can fight it, Balder." She whispered. "I believe in you; I believe in our love."

"I-" The man's tone had changed, and pain was beginning to form on his features. "R-"

"You can do it!" Her other hand enclosed his from the top. "Balder! My love! Please! Come back to me!"

"Rosa?" His eyes went wide, and began darting around in fear. "Rosa?!"

"It's me, Balder!" She held his hand up, her mouth breaking into a grin. "You're back!"

"You need to leave!" He was staring at her in horror. "You have to run! Just run! Anywhere!"

"Why? You're back?" Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "It's going to be ok!"

"I'm not in control, Rosa!" He was pushing her away, his eyes wide. "He let me back! It's only a ma-"

His face went slack, then neutral. "I have made my choice."

What happened next would never leave Bayonetta's memory.

His glaive appeared, its blade materialising in her stomach. Her mother gasped in pain, then began to gurgle as blood filled her lungs. His other hand pulled it into two and twirled the free half into her legs, slicing them cleanly off at the knees. The sudden shift of weight sent her to fall downwards and push the blade through her body further. Bones cracked and snapped, organs burst and were sliced and Rosa fell from the blade and to the floor, shock, pain and hurt on her features.

"ROSA!" Balder screamed in pure agony, his glaive appearing in his hands and he jumped forward, raising it into the air with the intent on murdering the parallel version of himself. Loptr-Balder looked up at him, smirked and then disappeared with a puff of blue smoke.

Bayonetta stood there in shock. Everything was muted; the only sound was the beating of her heart in her head. She felt… She felt…

Sick.

Her own father was forced to kill her mother, against his will. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to see it. But it was burned in her memory, forever.

"Rosa, no, no…" Balder had both landed and ran to his wife, grabbing onto her hand. "Rosa…"

Her eyes flittered open weakly. "Is this… how it ends?"

"No, I swear, I swear you will see another sunrise!" His hands glowed with green energy as he tried to heal her. "You will not die, Rosa! I sw-"

"Stop. Don't waste your energy." Her other hand reached up to touch his face. "It's ok… Balder, it's ok…"

"It is not ok!" He whispered, his voice beginning to crumble. "I just found you…"

"Balder…" She coughed, and blood dribbled from her mouth. "If you find Cereza again, promise me…"

"We will both find our daughter again!" He grabbed her other hand. "We will be reunited! A family that has-"

"It's my time, Balder." She smiled weakly. "Promise me… that you will protect her… until the end of the universe…"

"I will not let anyone harm her." His eyes were beginning to fill with tears as the reality of the situation came crashing down on him finally. "Rosa, please… I need you…"

"Good, now go." She coughed again. "You need to find her."

"We are going to find her." He snarled. "None of this negativity; you will not die today, I swe-"

"Bayonetta." She interrupted him and gestured to the witch behind him, still standing there is shock. "Promise me… that you will uphold the Umbran name?"

"I will…" Tears began to flow from her eyes as she walked towards the pair, her feelings, her vision, her mind all numb. "M-Rosa, I'm sorry. Sorry for everything…"

"No, please, no…" Balder tightened his grip as hers began to loosen. "Rosa, no!"

"Bayonetta…" She coughed. "It's going to be… ok… look after Balder…"

"You will come with us. I swear!" He was shaking now, tears visibly on his cheeks. "Rosa, my love…"

"Balder…" Rosa smiled weakly. "You are… my love… don't forget it…"

"Please…" He was sobbing. "I cannot live. Not without you."

"Father." Bayonetta said quietly to herself. Both of her parents, however, heard her and looked up; Balder in confusion and Rosa in surprise. "I forgive you."

Rosa's eyes widened as a blue portal opened behind them and began to pull them both in. Balder looked at the witch in shock, then turned himself back to Rosa, resisting the pull for as long as he possibly could.

"I am sorry, Rosa." He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. "I'm sorry for everything."

"You… dummy... I couldn't have asked… for a better life…" She placed a hand over the back of his neck and pulled him down for a weak, but lingering kiss. "Don't spoil… this ending."

Balder was then flung back, the forces of the Remembrance of Time finally overwhelming him. Screaming her name, he reached out to his wife as he flew through the portal, and then was silenced as he passed through. Bayonetta stared at her mother with dead eyes, and her mother smiled at her.

"You've made me proud, my daughter." She nodded at her. "I love you."

"Goodbye, mummy." She whispered as she too was flung back, tears spilling down her cheeks in a waterfall, then disappearing from sight as she passed through the portal as well. "I love you too."

Rosa let out a breath as the portal closed, and all was silent. Closing her eyes, she felt Khepri's presence beginning to fill her mind as her body began to slowly shut down.

"Mummy!?" A familiar voice broke her out of death, and she sighed. Opening her eyes, she saw her daughter's face staring down at her.

Her daughter's. Not one from the future.

"Mummy, no!"